February 08, 2006

Yahoo! Helped Jail another Chinese Cyberdissident

My initial reaction: A company that cares about human rights should not put user data in jurisdictions where full compliance with the law makes collaboration with human rights violations inevitable. Either they did not think this through before setting up their Chinese e-mail service or they don't care.

--------------------------------Another cyberdissident imprisoned because of data provided by Yahoo

Reporters
Without Borders today condemned the US firm Yahoo! for handing over data on one
of its users in China which enabled the authorities there to send him to prison
for eight years, the second such case that has come to light in recent
months.

It called on Yahoo! to supply a list of all cyberdissidents it
has provided data on, beginning with 81 people in China whose release the
worldwide press freedom organization is currently campaigning for.

It
said it had discovered that Yahoo! customer and cyberdissident Li Zhi had been
given his eight-year prison sentence in December 2003 based on electronic
records provided by Yahoo. “How many more cases are we going to find?” it
asked.

“We were sure the case of Shi Tao, who was jailed for 10 years
last April on the basis of Yahoo-supplied data, was not the only one. Now we
know Yahoo works regularly and efficiently with the Chinese police.

“The
firm says it simply responds to requests from the authorities for data without
ever knowing what it will be used for. But this argument no longer holds water.
Yahoo certainly knew it was helping to arrest political dissidents and
journalists, not just ordinary criminals. The company must answer for what it is
doing at the US congressional hearing set for February 15.”

The
foreign-based news website Boxun.com posted on February 5 the plea of
cyberdissident Li’s lawyer, Zhang Sizhi, at an appeal court hearing in February
2004
(www.peacehall.com/cgi-bin/news/gb_display/print_version.cgi?art=/gb/china/2006/02&link=200602051139.shtml).
Zhang said his client, who used the e-mail address libertywg@yahoo.com.cn and
user-name lizhi34100, had been sentenced on the basis of data handed over by
Yahoo! Hong Kong in a report dated August 1, 2003.

Li, a 35-year-old
ex-civil servant from the southwestern province of Dazhou, had been sentenced on
December 10, 2003 to eight years in prison for “inciting subversion.” He had
been arrested the previous August after he criticized in online discussion
groups and articles the corruption of local officials.

Local sources
said Yahoo! Hong Kong’s cooperation with the police was also mentioned in the
court’s verdict on Li.

The US house of Representatives Committee on
International Relations will hold a hearing on February 15 about the ethical
responsibilities of Internet firms. Yahoo! has been invited to attend.

49
cyberdissidents and 32 journalists are in prison in China for posting on the
Internet articles and criticism of the authorities.